With the rise of mobile computing, consumers may now perform traditional computing tasks anywhere. Mobile computing devices such as cellular telephones, tablet computers, e-book readers, and the like have become a ubiquitous part of everyday life. However, the continuing drive for higher performance may place increasing pressure on limited resources such as battery life, even as the drive for smaller form factors and lower costs may limit battery capacities.
Since the utility and reliability of mobile computing devices may depend in large part on battery life, consumers may value mobile applications that consume relatively less battery energy. Unfortunately, traditional mobile computing devices may provide no means for determining the impact of a given mobile application on the rate of battery energy consumption. Additionally, traditional techniques for profiling the resource usage of applications on desktop computing devices may not be effective on many mobile platforms. For example, traditional techniques for profiling the resource usage of applications on desktop computing devices may monitor applications for the percentage of processor time each application consumes. However, these traditional techniques may not apply on mobile computing platforms that devote the majority of processor time to a single foreground application. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for monitoring application resource usage on mobile computing systems.